About

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

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About This Blog

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I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of budget travel advice from newspaper writers with $100/day accommodation budgets. My idea of budget travel is around $10/day before admissions fees. Yes, even in Europe. Travelers like us don’t eat in restaurants everyday. We like meeting locals and other travelers, strolling through parks and people watching, taking public transportation and exploiting free festivals, events and opening days. We don’t need elaborate plans or accommodations to enjoy ourselves on vacation. By keeping costs down, we extend the length of our travels; yet we also know a worthy splurge when we see one. We’ve learned to appreciate the journey.

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About Me

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Originally hailing from the frigid north of Minnesota, I’m now going on seven years of residence in various corners of Europe. This allows me ample opportunity to explore this and neighboring continents. I spent a semester in Ireland in the womb and took my first conscious trip abroad at 15. I haven’t put my suitcases down since. I travel mostly for leisure and find lots of creative ways to afford it. I collect postcards and take photographs. You will find me riding the bus and walking around the botanical garden. Catch me if you can!

I take all the header photos. The current photo is from Girona, Spain. Previous headers have included Granada, Spain; Venice, Italy; Northern Ireland, UK; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Keukenhof in the Netherlands.

I actually don’t travel all the time, Rob — like everyone, I think about it much more than I do it. Living in Europe makes it a lot easier to get other places cheaply and quickly. And if you travel (and live) like I do, it doesn’t cost you a whole lot more than staying put.

Congratulations on your blog! And it’s come along at a most opportune time since the world is now in “Economic Crisis” and looking for ways to save money while traveling. We all appreciate your efforts.

Great site! I’m going to add you to my RSS feeds and then when I get around to the blogroll on my own blog I’ll do that too.

I’m not too keen on moving around much these days since I spent most my life doing it. But I will be moving to my third continent in a year beginning in October, so I guess I can’t entirely settle down yet. I totally agree with your advice so far–when I travel Europe the things I save up for are train and bus tickets, which can cost a pretty penny in places like Switzerland or even Spain (even when you know that in some places like France you can save a lot taking the iDTGV if you book online in advance and several days/weeks out). I have used couchsurfing.org for a few years and love it. I travel with a swiss army knife so I can make my food as I go, and everything that most people throw out ends up in my bag (within reason). Then as for admission fees, well there’s either the free tours in cities (greatest things ever invented) or finding out when or if other things are discounted certain times of the week, and which things are free in what cities (parks and monuments for example, and things off the beaten path that are so much more interesting).